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Newswire Misreports Gamer's Suicide
Asriel86 writes "Pulling from the AFP newswire, Yahoo, CNN, and others have been reporting about how a gamer broadcast his own suicide on a gaming forum via a webcam, and that members of the forum continued to ridicule the gamer while he killed himself. Gaming Horizon has just learned that this is completely untrue. The newswire reporter failed to check the facts, and in turn painted this simple gaming forum into cruel monsters. The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."
It seems there is no tragedy that can't be made worse by sensationalist media trying to make the story fit their preconceived notions of what will get them ratings.
(Not that reporters have a monopoly on this sort of thing. Self-serving politicians looking to make a name for themselves are entirely capable of it as well.)
From the article:
"If you'd like to contact the AFP newswire about their story, you can do so via this form and selecting the "Contact news department" option for the first drop-down."
The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."
"Government agencies" can take down websites without even determining if a crime has taken place? Land of the free, hmm? I can see where this is going...
"Hay guys, it's Bill again. I think that apple.com is actually a secret code for terrorists. You should close it for a few years until your investigation is done."
I don't know how realistic that is though.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Well, of course they believed it - as everyone who's ever played Metal Gear Solid can tell you, playing it definately makes you want to kill yourself!
"Please shut up, snake, and let me PLAY THE GAME again... Why, of why, can't you skip the codec sequences? I don't want to 'fast foward' through two talking heads, I want to skip it entirely - oh, wait, cutscene #3, skip, great, more codec. And another cutscene, and - more codec. Screw this! *BLAM*"
When Metal Gear Solid is considered one of the best "all time games" for your console, you know it's time to find a new console.
The media makes up crap all the time to spice stories up when they just aren't intesting enough/slow news day/whatever...
For example, a buddy of mine had his bedroom go up in flames. They reported the fire on the news, where "One man was taken to the hospital to be treated for 3rd degree burns". Yes, he did get taken to the hospital. They put a band-aid on his finger.
Can I see a raise of hands who believes everything they see in the news? Didn't think so.
-FL
This may not be true, but the story is very similar to Brandon Vedas, who OD'd while on IRC. Google subject title for more information.
The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
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Seems as though these *reporters*...; if thats really who they are, have apparently not ever read, much less heard of the story about "The Sky Is Falling"... et al.
Typical monitarily biased media people...
lol.
Pretty soon it will be the crying wolf more than 3 times and no one will answer. Then there really will be trouble in paradise.
Cheers
Jeff
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
I love how everyone on the right rails about the media being a leftist propaganda wing, while the people on the left call it a mouthpiece for the Bush white house.
Both are BS. The press leans whichever way will make it the most money.
The media exists to make money. Simple as that. They provide a service people pay for, and they temper their reporting to get the most exposure. Ever hear of "if it bleeds it leads?"
This is simply another example of the media 'sexing' up a story to get more attention and interest. I mean, which sounds more dramatic, "kid kills self, net friends try to talk him out of it", or "kid kills self, net fiends egg him on and watch his deathtrows on webcam."
The press leans neither left nor right, they lean towards $$$
spamspamspamspamspam!
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
On January 2 he posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances. Damn, that's heartbreaking. I'm in awe of how badly the press screwed this up, yet touched by the response by his fellow gamers.
I know it is usually illegal to assit in a suicide. But what exactly is the law?
Say a slashdot poster, lets call him "Emo_Kiddy", said he was thinking of ending his live. If I do nothing and just ignore him is that a crime? Do I have a duty to report this?
What if I suggest a few handy links with sure fire tips of how to kill yourselve.
Am I allowed to call him a pussy who is to weakwilled to do it anyway? Dare him?
Call me a nasty heartless person but I seen to many teenagers who claim they are going to kill themselves and never do. So this kid actually had the balls to do it (or made a fatal misjudgement on getting attention). Does this force the rest of society to be at their constant beck and call everytime some emokid seeks attention?
To bad for the kid that he saw no other way out but is that really the problem of the rest of the world?
I am going to kill myself, if you have read this you are now obligated to stop me. Don't and slashdot will be shut down. Nice. Could put a whole new twist to trolling for ops in a forum/irc channel. 'give me ops' 'no' 'I am going to kill myself' 'Oh okay, your an op'.
Oh well, time to visit sexylosers and see if there is a new suicide girl comic.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
from TFA : "The story was picked up by AFP, "
AFP i.e. French media. I wonder it was really horrible babel fish job.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Kuja was a contributing member member of LUELinks.net (completely private)
His contributions are appreciated.
There aren't many of us left. Carry on.
*SaLUEtes*
Sounds to me like the AFP caught wind that someone who had internet access killed himself, then decided to combine the story with this report, from 2003, on the death of Brandon Vedas.
Astoundingly bad journalism...stealing detail from an unrelated past event and implying that they happened again.
Stasis is death. Embrace change.
You're an idiot.
It looks as if you're tearing into me except that you're quoting things I never said. Had to drop my threshold to see the real shape of the tree. You're absolutely right, of course, the AC is off his nut. I do wish there were some visible indication that there's a hidden layer in the response tree. (I know, I know... then it wouldn't be -hidden-.)
--Parity
'Card carrying' member of the EFF.
The majority of people in the chat room seemed to be trying to help him, but there was one punk that just kept daring him to eat more and more. Then they decided to call him. So which one calls him? The punk, of course. I'm sure that helped. It's the guy named Smoke2k in the chat log.
Point is, we don't have the original site to look at. We only have heresay. But I'm inclined to believe the original article just because I know people and I know gamers. I've been in a lot of gaming communities, and we all know what they can be like. If you're enough of a gamer to be reading the gaming section of Slashdot, you know what I'm talking about.
People making fun of him, and egging him on, is more believable to me than a community full of helpful folks. Until we see some proof either way, I'm going to have to believe the original articles, because they ring of truth to me, while this rebuttal doesn't.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
Kuja's posting on gamefaqs, with responders' posts:o ard=2000075&topic=25527152&page=0
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?b
One of the metalgearsolid.org's admins tells his story here:= &threadid=1777029&highlight=metalgearsolidorg
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s
Picture it - you're on a forum. Someone makes a post "i'm going to kill myself". Do you a) say no, b) say do it, or c, say nothing?
I'd probably say nothing, assuming it was bullshit. If I was in a mood, I might provide a wikipedia link to suicide techniques or tell him to slash up, not across his wrist.
Either way, would you honestly believe the posting and attempt to stop the person?
This level of quality reporting is standard in ALL NEWS REPORTS.
Take everything you read with a very very large grain of salt. Things are sensationalized and often blatently factually wrong. You really cant believe anything you see on the news these days. Its pretty sad.
That being said, who knows what the hell is going on anywhere at any time. I dont really watch the news anymore, its just not worth it. Quality isnt up to par.
The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports. A few people have made comments about the site being shut down by the goverment. I would like to point out that you misunderstand. It was shut down by metalgearsolid.org at the request of goverment agencies. If metalgearsolid.org had refused their wouldn't be much the goverment could do. I'm not a big fan of alot of the people in goverment but if your gonna harp about the first amendment being volated you should ad lest make sure you fully understand whats going on. Other wise when it really does happen people will hear you and say that it is you who are cring wolf.
...of a man who suicides and the press tell us that the game kills another person. It's obvious that the game is not the problem, I saw a lot of stories about gamers that died after 4 days of gaming (no pause for food or sleep).
http://www.michel.eti.br